Politics and Rationality: Rational Choice in Application

Rational choice approaches to the study of politics are of great and growing prominence in political science. There are an increasing number of collections devoted to the methods of rational choice theory and specialized monographs applying it to individual topics. The present volume is unique in that it is a collection of substantive applications of rational choice theory in three of the main fields of political inquiry: comparative politics, international relations and political theory. The essays gathered here represent work by many of the most outstanding scholars in the discipline showing how rational choice theory may be employed in the analysis of fundamental political questions.

Despite an increasing number of collections devoted to the methods of rational choice theory, this volume is unique in consisting of substantive appplications in three of the main fields of political inquiry: comparative politics, international relations and political theory.